Your book sounds so interesting, I'm really looking forward to reading it, for that matter your article in Esquire is one of the very best I've read on James Dean.
This is such a fantastic article. It's especially helpful in laying out the timeline and the hows/whys. I read (skimmed) Tysl's thesis before but this article made me interested in looking into it again, especially since it was the first major scholarship on Dean and the creation and deconstruction of his media image.
For your book, are you mostly focusing on James Dean and the post-death Dean cult in the 1950s with the Lavender Scare and McCarthyism and paranormal/occult trends of the time? Will it also focus on the revitalization of interests in Dean in the 1970s/1980s and later?
And speaking of the paranormal while it never reached the level of the Elvis ghostly sightings the paranormal James Dean is in books and on youtube (and I'm sure you've seen these videos and obviously know way more than I do on the topic). There are more than a few videos of mediums claiming to communicate with James Dean from across the beyond. In Roy Schatt's photo-memoir he mentioned a movie magazine hiring a medium to hypnotize Schatt to try to bring Dean back from the other side. I know that isn't something unique to James Dean of course-there are videos featuring channeling/messages with other deceased cultural icons as well, but it's interesting to see how almost 70 years after his death and the first generation of fans believed they could communicate with his spirit in Fairmount or feel his ghost on the road to Salinas --James Dean is still a subject of supra/supernatural interests.
I'm glad you enjoyed the article. Tysl's work is, frankly, very dull. It's highly useful as a day-by-day breakdown of James Dean news coverage, but it lacks much by way of actual analysis or research beyond the articles themselves.
My book looks at the Lavender Scare era by examining James Dean's life moving through that period and contrasting his experiences with those of other young queer men of the time to show how his "weird" behavior was paralleled in many other lives, in direct reaction to the culture of oppression of the time. The last quarter examines the Dean cult in its cultural context.
I can't even begin to describe how interested and excited I am about your book! Especially linking his experiences to other queer men of the era and looking at the social/historical context that James Dean lived in and exploring the cult that immerged after his death.
One channeling message... his great words of wisdom were essentially 'watch my films' which Always Be Closing, Jim. ;) BUT at least he wasn't trying to hawk cookie jars or James Dean Barbie dolls--which is an actual thing.
A book claims to not only channel Dean but his mother and other people who worked with Dean like IIRC-Julie Harris- as well. There's a whole series on kindle--which according to the titles links Dean to King David--I guess(?).
But there's also a subset that link Dean to satanic/demonic forces. Including blaming him for introducing the 'then unheard of marijuana' to the public in 1953 via one of his t.v. appearances as part of brand of manipulative 'personal control.'
Speaking of Houdini--there is a tangential link. Patrick Culliton , actor, author of Houdini Unlocked and Houdini The Key, wrote about randomly meeting James Dean at an ice cream store in 1955 Los Angeles.
My book is a standard 100,000 words--300 double-spaced pages, which is around 200 finished book pages. No, this adds an interesting paragraph to a chapter, but it mostly just confirms what I had already deduced through other lines of evidence.
Your book sounds so interesting, I'm really looking forward to reading it, for that matter your article in Esquire is one of the very best I've read on James Dean.
This is such a fantastic article. It's especially helpful in laying out the timeline and the hows/whys. I read (skimmed) Tysl's thesis before but this article made me interested in looking into it again, especially since it was the first major scholarship on Dean and the creation and deconstruction of his media image.
For your book, are you mostly focusing on James Dean and the post-death Dean cult in the 1950s with the Lavender Scare and McCarthyism and paranormal/occult trends of the time? Will it also focus on the revitalization of interests in Dean in the 1970s/1980s and later?
And speaking of the paranormal while it never reached the level of the Elvis ghostly sightings the paranormal James Dean is in books and on youtube (and I'm sure you've seen these videos and obviously know way more than I do on the topic). There are more than a few videos of mediums claiming to communicate with James Dean from across the beyond. In Roy Schatt's photo-memoir he mentioned a movie magazine hiring a medium to hypnotize Schatt to try to bring Dean back from the other side. I know that isn't something unique to James Dean of course-there are videos featuring channeling/messages with other deceased cultural icons as well, but it's interesting to see how almost 70 years after his death and the first generation of fans believed they could communicate with his spirit in Fairmount or feel his ghost on the road to Salinas --James Dean is still a subject of supra/supernatural interests.
I'm glad you enjoyed the article. Tysl's work is, frankly, very dull. It's highly useful as a day-by-day breakdown of James Dean news coverage, but it lacks much by way of actual analysis or research beyond the articles themselves.
My book looks at the Lavender Scare era by examining James Dean's life moving through that period and contrasting his experiences with those of other young queer men of the time to show how his "weird" behavior was paralleled in many other lives, in direct reaction to the culture of oppression of the time. The last quarter examines the Dean cult in its cultural context.
I can't even begin to describe how interested and excited I am about your book! Especially linking his experiences to other queer men of the era and looking at the social/historical context that James Dean lived in and exploring the cult that immerged after his death.
Just think of the perennial tradition of psychics trying to contact Harry Houdini. Maybe come Judgement Day he'll reply.
One channeling message... his great words of wisdom were essentially 'watch my films' which Always Be Closing, Jim. ;) BUT at least he wasn't trying to hawk cookie jars or James Dean Barbie dolls--which is an actual thing.
A book claims to not only channel Dean but his mother and other people who worked with Dean like IIRC-Julie Harris- as well. There's a whole series on kindle--which according to the titles links Dean to King David--I guess(?).
But there's also a subset that link Dean to satanic/demonic forces. Including blaming him for introducing the 'then unheard of marijuana' to the public in 1953 via one of his t.v. appearances as part of brand of manipulative 'personal control.'
Speaking of Houdini--there is a tangential link. Patrick Culliton , actor, author of Houdini Unlocked and Houdini The Key, wrote about randomly meeting James Dean at an ice cream store in 1955 Los Angeles.
A 700 page paper? How many pages might your book manuscript be? More to the point, does this late revelation affect your draft?
My book is a standard 100,000 words--300 double-spaced pages, which is around 200 finished book pages. No, this adds an interesting paragraph to a chapter, but it mostly just confirms what I had already deduced through other lines of evidence.